Affordable Xiaomi phones with in-screen fingerprint sensor pegged for 2020 launch

We have been coming across smartphones across varying price points featuring in-display fingerprint sensors. The trend kicked off in early 2017 and has witnessed many improvements over time. However, this feature has one major downside - the incompatibility with LCD panels. Well, in-display fingerprint sensors work with OLED displays that are expensive than LCD panels and this makes it difficult to implement this feature in the more affordable offerings.

Now, a company called Fortsense has come up with a solution to this issue. The company has made it possible to use in-display biometric sensors work with LCD panels. Following this breakthrough, it is possible to witness the launch of affordable smartphones with this feature.

Affordable Xiaomi phones with in-display fingerprint sensor

Now, Xiaomi's product director Wang Teng has taken to Weibo to announce that they will work on a smartphone with this technology and the same could be launched by late 2019 or early 2020. As per a GizChina report citing the post, this upcoming Xiaomi smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor will be priced under 2000 yuan (approx. Rs. 21,000). In the meantime, even the cost of the devices with OLED on-screen fingerprint sensors is also getting cheaper.

Recently, Oppo launched the Oppo K1 with an in-display fingerprint sensor. Notably, this device carries the credits of being the cheapest smartphone with such a feature and is priced at Rs. 16,990. So, it would not be a great thing to witness the launch of LCD counterparts at the same price range. Moreover, OLED optical fingerprint sensors have witnessed many improvements in these two years and we can expect the same to be improved further in the coming months.

As of now, there is no clarity regarding how these new LCD in-display fingerprint sensors will perform. We are yet to come across details regarding its speed, accuracy and battery life impact. However, we can expect this new type of sensor to open a category of entry-level smartphones.